Needle-guard attachment for sewing-machines



F. P. GARDNER. TTACHMENT FOR SEWING NEEDLE GUARD A MACHINES.

- APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. 1918. 1,307,295.

Patented June 17, 1919.

FRANK P. GARDN'ER, 011 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

NEEDLE-GUARD ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 17, 1919.

Application filed August 9, 1918. Serial No. 249,201.

ing is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to a needle guard at tachinent for sewing machines to protect the fingers of the operator against being injured by the needle during the operation of the machine. It is obvious that while the needle is unguarded there is danger that the careless operator while feeding the work may allow his fingers to come into the path of movement of the needle and be severely injured.

In some of the needle guard attachments heretofore used the guard has obstructed the view of the work and it has been necessary to remove the guard in order to thread the needle. One object of the present invention is to so construct and attach the guard that the operator shall be able at all times to see the work and also to enable him to thread the needle conveniently without removing the guard.

It is a-rule of many insurance companies, especially of the employers liability and accident insurance companies, that machines shall be provided with needle guards. The operatives, however, frequently object to the use of needle guards because they think that it interferes with the speed of their work. Also sometimes in some factories the operatives are held responsible for the needle guard and either have to supply their own needle guard or pay for it if it is lost so that whenever the factory is shut down at noon or at night the operative removes the needle guard and carries it away with him and because of the time required of putting it on and taking it oif the operatives often times leave the guard ofi while they are working if they think they cando so without being detected and then if they see the foreman or superintendent approaching they put it on again if it can be quickly done. There is an objection to having the needle guard formed as a permanent part of the presser foot and on the other hand for the reasons above mentioned it is objectionable to so construct the needle guard that it can be too readily attached or detached by means of the ordinary tools within the reach of the operative. One object of the present invention is to construct and attach the needle guard in such manner that while it is a separate member from the presser foot and can be attached by the use of proper tools, yet cannot be readily detached and replaced by use of the ordinary tools within the reach of the sewing machine operative.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features thereof will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the working parts of a sewing machine showing the needle and needle bar, the presser foot and presser foot bar and my improved form of needle guard attached to the presser foot, the needle being shown in its uppermost position.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the presser foot and needle guard attached thereto viewed from the right hand side of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the presser foot and needle guard attachment.

Fig. i is a front view of the needle guard attachment detached from the presser foot.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the needle guard attachment detached, viewed from the left hand side and with one of the flange clamping fingers spread out as it is before being attached to the presser foot.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-7 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the needle guard attachment before it is attached to th presser foot.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 repre sents the head of a sewing machine, 2, the needle guard and 3 the needle connected therewith in well known manner. 4 represents the presser foot bar, 10 the presser foot and 5 the presser foot shank which is formed with a vertical groove 6 in one side between the flange portions 11 and 36 to receive the shank 7 of the presser foot bar and is formed with an open slot Sin the upper end through which a screw 9 extends to clamp the presser foot to the shank 7 of the bar 4.

I The upwardly extending shank 5 of the presser foot has a flange portion 11 which toward its upper end forms one wall of the groove 6 and which as clearly shown in Fig. 2 tapers upwardly. The flange portion 12 on the opposite side of the presser foot shank preferably tapers downwardly as shown in Fig. 1 so that the two opposite flanges 11, 12 taper in opposite directions.

The needle guard attachment is stamped out of a single sheet of steel, preferably cold rolled steel, case hardened and-'blued. It is of skeleton form having a back portion 13 out of one side of which is stamped one of the back clamping wing portions let. The left hand side of the guard has stamped out of the same the other rear clamping wing portion 15, the unnecessary portions being cut away after the clamping wing is stamped out, thus leaving the left hand side of the guard of skeleton form having an upper guard rail portion 16, a lower guard rail portion 17 and a front end connecting loop portion 18 which is bent around toward the front as shown in the drawings. The open space 19 left in the side guard between the upper and lower members 16, 17, the front end loop 18 and the back 13 is not sufficiently large to cause any danger of the finger of the operative passing through the same to get into the path of the needle, but it is suffi ciently open to afford an unobstructed View of the work on that side.

The right hand side of the needle guard has a slot 20 formed therein by cutting away the metal, thus giving a somewhat U-shape to the walls of said slot as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It also has a slot 21 in the rear part thereof which is formed when the right hand rear clamping arm 14 is stamped out, said slot being partly in the rear portion of the needle guard and partly in the right hand side portion as is shown in Fig. l.

. The forward part of the right hand side of the finger guard is formed with another cut out portion 22 thus giving an additional skeleton formation to the device. The forward portion 23 of the right hand side member of the needle guard is bent around forward thus forming a front bowed portion which extends toward the bowed portion 18 of the left hand side member as shown in Fig. 4, the two bowed portions 23 and 18 being spaced apart from each other enough to afford a clear view between them yet not sufficient to permit the finger to be accidentally introduced into a dangerous position with relation to the needle.

The needle guard in its finished form before it is attached to the presser foot is shaped as shown in cross section in Fig. 7 and in perspective in Fig. 8 with the wing 15 extending straight out at right angles to the back 13. The opposite wing 14 has the portion adjacent the back 13 bent at right angles to the back 13 and its end portion 141 bent at right angles to the portion let and extending toward the wing 15 as shown in Fig. 7. The distance between the wing 14- and the wing 15 is equal to the width of the presser foot shank 5 so that the socket formed by the wings 1st and 15 and back 13 of the guard may be inserted down over the top of the tapered shank of the presser foot, the two wings forming ways for the two opposite sides of the presser foot shank. As already stated the flange 11 of the presser foot shank tapers upwardly, that is, illcreases in thickness downwardly although it is of uniformwidth. To correspond with this taper the plane of the turned end portion lfl of the wing 14 flares downwardly away from the plane of the back 13 so that the passage 2% between the back 13 and the said turned portion 141 increases in width from the top to the bottom at a corresponding angle of taper'to that of the tapered flange 11. When the guard is inserted over the top of the presser foot shank it will slide down until it comes to a point where the wedge shaped flange 11 is equal in thickness to the tapered passage 24 and it can go no farther down. Then the outer portion 151 of the flange 15 is bent around against the back side of the reversely tapered flange portion 12 of the shank and presserfoot as shown in Fig. 6. Now on account of the upward thickening of the flange 12 it is i1npossible to pull the needle guard up away from the presser foot because it will be wedged in by the upward swelling of the shank portion 12. Neither can the needle guard be pushed down any farther because it has already been pushed down as far as it can go by reason of the wedging action of the flange 11 within the upwardly tapered way 24. The needle guard, therefore, is securely clamped to the presser foot without the aid of screws or any exterior fastening means, even before the presser foot is assembled with the presser foot bar 4. After it is assembled with the presser foot bar by means of the screw 9 it is still more difficult to detach the needle guard from the presser foot. It can not be detached even by straightening out the wing 15 again into the position shown in Fig. 7, assuming that such straightening out could be done. Such straightening out, however, would weaken the wing andit could not be done more than once or twice at the most before it would break the wing in two.

Preferably the end portion 151 of the wing 15 which bends around behind the presser foot is somewhat narrower than the body of'the wing 15 as shown inFig. 2, the body of the wing 15 being left the full width of the portion which is struck out of lower rim 17 of said side portion of the needle guard for the purpose of giving as much strength as possible to the wing. The bent back portion 151 however is made narrower so that it can be more easily bent and more easily fit itself to the sloping rear face of the shank of the presser bar.

The shoulder 25 will serve as a stop for the upward movement of the guard after the wing 15 is bent into clamping position even if the flange 12 is not tapered below the wing.

The right hand side of the guard, that is the side portion which is on the same side as the short toe 26 of the presser foot has a how 27 which extends down lower than the lower rim 17 of the other side of the guard to give more effectual protection on that side which is more exposed by reason of the short toe.

The point of the needle is thus guarded throughout its entire stroke.

What I claim is:

l. A needle guard attachment for a presser foot having a shank with a tapered wedged shaped flange, said guard attachment having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle and having wings integral with said guard portion for clamping the guard to the presser foot, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage to receive one of the flanges on the shank of the presser foot and another wing which is capable of being bent around against the back of the other flange of the shank of the presser foot.

2. A needle guard attachment for-a presser foot having a shank formed with reversely tapered side flanges, said needle guard attachment having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle and having wings integral with said guard for clamping the guard to the presser foot, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage to receive one of the tapering flanges on the shank of the presser foot and another wing which is capable of being bent around the edge of ghe reversely tapered flange of the presser oot.

3. A needle guard attachment for a presser foot having a shank formed with reversely tapered flanges on two opposite side edges, said guard attachment having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle, said guard being formed out of sheet metal and having wings struck out of the body of said guard portion, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage to receive one of the tapering flanges on the shank of the presser foot and another wing which is capable of being bent around the other tapered flange of the shank of the presser foot and clamped against the back side thereof.

foot shank, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage corresponding in angle of taper to the downwardly tapered flange of the presser foot shank and another wing being capable of being bent around the edge and against the back of the other flange of the presser foot shank, said other flange being formed with a thickened portion above said wing which forms a stop for the upward movement of the guard after it is clamped to the presser foot shank and the increasing thickness downward of the first flange forming a stop to limit the downward movement of the guard after it is clamped.

5. A needle guard attachment for a presser foot formed out of sheet metal having two wings struck up out of the body by which the guard may be attached to a presser foot shank, one of said wings being bent to form a vertical groove tapered from the lower end upward to receive a correspondingly tapered flange on the shank of a presser foot, the other of said wings being capable of being bent around the opposite side of the presser foot shank after it has been inserted in said groove of the first wing, said guard being formed with a rear portion, and two forwardly projecting side portions out of which said wings are struck, the forward ends of said side portions being turned intoward each other in front of the path of movement 1 of the needle.

6. In combination with a presser foot having a shank formed with a tapered wedgeshaped flange, a needle guard attachment therefor having a guard portion which sub stantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle and having wings integral with said guard portion for clamping the guard to the presser foot, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage to receive one of the flanges on the shank of the presser foot and another of said wings being bent around against the back of the other flange of the shank of the presser foot.

7. In combination with a presser foot having a shank formed with opposite side flanges reversely tapered, a needle guard attachment therefor having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of tion above said Win D 8. In combination with a presser foot having a shank formed with opposite side flanges reversely tapered, a needle guard attachment therefor having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle, said guard being formed out of sheet metal and having wings struck out of the body of said guard portion, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage to receive one of the tapering flanges on the shank of the presser foot and another of said wings being bent around the other tapered flange of the shank of the presser foot and clamped against the back side thereof.

9. In combination with a presser foot having a shank formed with two opposite side flanges, one of which tapers downwardly, a needle guard attachment therefor, said guard. attachment having a guard portion which substantially surrounds the path of movement of the needle and having two wings integral with said guard for clamping the guard to the presser foot shank, one of said wings being bent to form a tapered passage corresponding in angle of taper to the clownwardly tapered flange of the presser foot shank and the other wing being bent around the edge and against the back of the other flange of the presser foot shank, said other flange being formed with a thickened porwhich forms a stop for the upward movement of the guard after it is clamped to the presser foot shank, the increasing thickness downward of the first flange forming a stop to limit the downward movement of the guard after it is clamped.

10. In combination with a presser foot having a shank formed with two opposite after it has been inserted in said groove of the first wing, said guard being formed with a rear portion and two forwardly projecting side portions out of which said wings are struck, the forward ends of said side portions being turned in toward each other in front of the path of movement of the needle.

11. A presser foot for a sewing machine having a shank formed with two opposite vertical side flanges reversely tapered, one of said flanges tapering upwardly and the other tapering downwardly, in combination with a needle guard having two opposite side portions shaped to form reversely tapered passages with which said tapered flanges engage- V In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

FRANK P. GARDNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

